Dear Grossmont College Community: ‘Tis the season to celebrate! Thanks to all who contributed so generously to our campus holiday season of giving, including the District Police Toys for Tots campaign and ASGC solicitations. The collaboration of the athletic department in support of the EOPS/CARE family toy and gift drive is an especially heartwarming example. Holidays also provide us with great opportunities to express our gratitude, not only for our family and friends, but for the daily relationships we establish and maintain with our colleagues. Together, we have accomplished much during 2006. We also have much to look forward to as we anticipate the reality of opening two wonderful new facilities in time for the beginning of the Spring Semester. Special thanks to those who served on the planning committees. Thanks also to those who have labored so diligently as the Accreditation Self-Study evolves. It does take a village! I appreciate everyone’s collegiality and support during this past year. My best wishes for a productive and rewarding New Year in 2007.

 

Governing Board Meeting Highlights

During the December 12th Governing Board Meeting:
 

Newly-elected trustee Greg Barr and incumbent trustees Weeks, Alexander, and Garrett were sworn into office. Trustee Alexander was elected president of the Governing Board for the coming year, with Trustee Garrett elected Vice President and Trustee Deanna Weeks elected Clerk of the Board.

Dr. Colli provided information for the Governing Board regarding the campus-based activities of the Presidential Search Committee. He described the information he shared with all members of that committee, at several times during each of both search processes, regarding the range of possible outcomes once the search committee forwarded its recommendations to the Chancellor and to the Governing Board.

Other Governing Board Highlights appear in The Courier, which was distributed electronically December 18 and is available in hard copy in the Campus Mail Room.

 
Annual District Speech and Debate Tournament and Pacific
Southwest Tournament Showcase Student Talent

Thanks to Grossmont instructor Roxanne Tuscany and Cuyamaca instructor Nancy Jennings, the district’s annual Speech and Debate Tournament on November 11-12 hosted students from 28 colleges and universities, including UCSD, Arizona State University, and El Paso Community College, Texas. With 119 student teams competing, this was the largest Parliamentary Debate tournament this year in Southern California. Six communication faculty participated in the event, and 148 Grossmont communication students assisted.

In competition, eight Grossmont/Cuyamaca students participated and three won awards, including Jessica Williams-Holt, first place in Novice Informative; Unique Colter, who was a finalist in Novice Program Oral Interpretation, and Nathan Henry, also a finalist in Novice Speech to Entertain.

More recently, the combined district Speech and Debate team competed at the Pacific Southwest Collegiate Forensics Association Fall Championship Tournament December 1-3 at CSU Long Beach. A total of 42 colleges and universities attended the tournament, with GCCCD students placing in Open Impromptu, Open Cultural Artifact, and as finalists in Jr. Parliamentary Debate, Jr. Extemporaneous Speech, and Novice Poetry. Congratulations to advisors and student competitors.

What a wonderful way to, once again, put the Grossmont/Cuyamaca Speech and Debate program on the map!
 

Phi Theta Kappa Inducts New Members into Beta Theta Chi

It is always rewarding to participate in the PTK induction ceremony. PTK not only honors scholarship and cultivates further leadership and service, but the induction ceremony also provides such a meaningful academic ritual for students and faculty alike. Congratulations to the more than 60 new members who accepted the invitation to join and those who were inducted on December 1, as well as to advisors Victoria Howitt and Tony Ding.

Accreditation Forum Considers Draft Self-Study Document

Thanks to the good work of our Accreditation Steering Committee and to the legions of faculty, staff and students involved in the development of the initial drafts of the nine standard sections, we are well on our way in document preparation. Toward that end, the steering committee hosted a forum December 1 to receive additional input from interested parties, and to hear from co-chairs of the teams. It is evident that this is a caring and careful community, willing to expend significant effort in the creation of the Self Study. The draft Self Study is posted online and comments are invited through an electronic dialogue box feature.

Sue Jensen Invited to Deliver the Project Success
Message to Consortium's Spring Workshop

Grossmont College’s Project Success and its success in the Learning Community movement will be the topic of a workshop presented by Grossmont College’s Sue Jensen in March. Jensen has been invited to be the keynote speaker for the San Joaquin Valley Learning Community Consortium’s Spring 2007 Learning Community Workshop, which will be held at Modesto Junior College. Congratulations to Sue, and to our dedicated Project Success instructors, for making Grossmont College an acknowledged pacesetter for other colleges to follow!

Nursing Pinning Ceremonies Reasons to Celebrate

In the wake of recent focus on the Grossmont College Nursing Programs, I am pleased to report that 51 new Associate Degree Nursing students will have graduated by the end of the semester. Our innovative Weekend/Evening Program graduated 17 new nurses December 11 in a ceremony in the Student Center. On Saturday, December 16, 34 graduated from the traditional program, whose students began their studies in the Spring of 2005.

Debbie Yaddow Named Director of Nursing

Debbie Yaddow, one of our own Grossmont College-educated nurses, has been named Director of Nursing, overseeing the Grossmont College Nursing Programs. Debbie has served as a Nursing faculty member since 1991 and has been serving as Interim Director this semester. Debbie has a wide range of experience and expertise, having worked locally in a number of health care facilities. Debbie earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Nursing. She has taught Preoperative Nursing and a critical thinking course she developed, as well as critical care and leadership courses which students take in the fourth semester of the program. Debbie was selected as a commencement speaker at Grossmont College’s 44th Commencement in 2005.

‘Tis the Season to Share

This year, our campus efforts to help provide happier holidays for needy students and their families were given a special boost by the Athletic Department, which sponsored a toy drive as part of the Griffin Football Homecoming Game November 11. As a result, the annual Holiday Party for EOPS/CARE families, which was held December 8, was a reminder of the bountiful generosity of our community. Campus departments and offices joined in the effort to create special and unusual gift baskets for these families. I am especially pleased with this show of the Grossmont spirit of giving.
 

Grossmont TANF-CDC Program Rates Audit Applause

Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF) and the CalWORKS program on our campus has grown substantially and surpassed its enrollment goal during the past two years. Dr. Cynthia Shields, Interim Director of EOPS/CalWORKS advises that a recent review of the Grossmont college program has exceeded goals for program retention (60 percent last fiscal year) and is holding at 100% for the current semester. A special cohort of TANF-Child Development Center participants is the focus of the review, which was conducted by the Foundation for California Community Colleges’ TANF-CDC Program.

‘Digital Digs’ Focus of Community & Industry Tour

December 1 was a very busy day on campus. Evan Wirig, Media Communications Chair, coordinated the collection of hard hats sufficient for the Industry and Community Advisory Committee’s tour of the new Digital Arts facility, a “completion-in-progress.” The facility will be officially occupied on the first day of classes January 22, and will be celebrated with a Grand Opening Ceremony for the Digital Arts and Sculpture Building Complex February 2, 11 a.m. In addition to college administrators and division faculty, Dec 1st tour attendees included Bob Hanson, NBC 7/39; Barbara Lang, AV Supply; Mike Krewiski, Professional Sound and Music; and Farah Moore, program graduate and Community-Member-at-Large.
 

GC Hosts Online Computer Library Center Workshops

Our librarians keep up with the latest techniques and technology through membership in the Online Computer Library Center organization (OCLC) which offers top-quality training in the field of cataloging and technical services, and by hosting events such as two recent workshops held in the Distance Education Classroom in late November and December 1. Grossmont College cataloging librarian Nadra Farina-Hess attended the OCLC workshops tuition-free, thanks to the college’s efforts as host institution. She reports that 31 participants came from as far away as Ketchikan, Alaska, and that the college was praised for our outstanding facility. Similar opportunities for training are generally available only out-of-state or in the Los Angeles area.
 

Recruitment and Enrollment - Spring 2007

You’ll soon see and hear reference to our campaign slogan, “Someday is NOW”, in our print and electronic media campaign for Spring 2007. We are pleased with initial enrollment reports, which show, as of Monday, December 18, the following in comparison to the same enrollment dates for Spring 2006:

Emergency Drill Tests Systems and Responses

On the morning of November 30, I activated the Emergency Operations Center as part of an emergency drill, one of our continuing series of activities to fine-tune our emergency plan. We worked from a scenario which included a simulation of an overhead collision of small planes near the canyon on the west side of campus. We were pleased to have two members of Cuyamaca’s staff, Arleen Satele and Vivian Bogue, join us to observe our drill activities.

One activity in this drill was to evacuate part of the campus using the Emergency Enunciator System (EES), a distributed announcement technology employing classroom and office speakerphones which we had tested in two prior drills. We had also planned to use the EES to direct the unaffected portions of the campus not to evacuate, but instead to proceed with activities as usual. An unplanned challenge was the malfunction in the Emergency Enunciator System access to Zone 1 of the campus, which includes the District Offices. This gave us the opportunity to “innovate around the impediment”—i.e., we used bull horns instead to evacuate the buildings. Dennis Simms in IS is working with us to remediate the difficulty with access to the system. Bottom line, the Emergency Operations Team functioned exceptionally well, especially given that we have several new members who have not participated in a prior drill. Suggestions during the debriefing session will be incorporated into future planning. I am proud of the work our EOC Working Group has done to keep us moving along in our development of higher levels of expertise and skills in emergency response.

 
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